Second Life Furcadia FanFic
by Voice in the Night
Summary: A young man from Earth suddenly finds himself thrust into a new dimension, one inhabited by creatures he only thought were fiction--anthros! Based loosely off of the MMORPG Furcadia. Rated T for some semi-graphic content later and romance...
1. Chapter I: Strange Awakening

I blinked, groaning softly as my mind resumed its conscious function—however, my body wasn't entirely willing to respond. 'Why am I so tired?' I thought. 'I feel like I haven't gotten any sleep in years…' Partially surfacing from the muddy lake that was currently my thoughts, I took a quick mental stock of my situation. I was in one piece; that was a good thing. As I looked around, I couldn't see any bars—I wasn't in jail—I could move my arms and legs; I wasn't tied up. I was— 'Wait a minute.' I thought, suddenly pausing. 'What's my name?' At first I didn't really think much of it…thinking I'd been knocked on the head and just simply was a little muddled. But as I searched through my mind…I couldn't find _any_ memories. That alarmed me. 'Where's my life?' I thought. 'What's happened to me?!'

"You're in no danger," a calm voice spoke from the darkness around me. "Calm yourself."

"Calm myself?" I spat back at the voice. "I have no idea who I am, or what my life has been. It's just all gone! Poof! How would you feel if that happened?" I demanded.

"Listen to me…" the voice repeated. "I can give you my word that no harm will come to you, and that this has only happened to you for your own good."

That voice was maddeningly calm, and it only served to fuel my frustrations. "My own—" I shut my mouth with a snap as I suddenly felt strong feelings wash over me. The sense of being was much greater than myself; I felt insignificant in the presence—which was obviously the embodiment of the voice that was speaking to me. The strongest feeling was that of trustworthiness; integrity. Somehow, I knew that this being wasn't going to lie to me. I didn't know how I knew, but there was no way I could refute it—I could trust whatever it said.

"I can tell you that your name used to be Taylor Daniels—but that's all you can know for now," the voice murmured when its powerful consciousness had retreated from my mind.

I tilted my head, chuckling softly. "'Used to be'?" I asked. "What, am I dead?"

"Well, no," the voice replied. "At least, not yet."

I raised an eyebrow, making a face. "Well, that gives me a lot of confidence." After a moment, I said, "Well, now I know who I am…who exactly are you? If you have a name…"

The voice seemed amused when it spoke next. "Suffice it to say that I am a Guardian," it said in a tone that meant there was to be no more discussion on the topic.

"All right, then, Guardian," I said, frowning slightly. "Since I'm not dead…then what am I doing here? And what is this place, anyway?"

"You're in the Nexus," the Guardian replied. "Take a look around."

I did so—but there wasn't much to see. It was fairly uniformly dark all around, with various points pierced by whitish-blue lights. I idly wondered what the lights were, when I realized that there was a similarly colored glow next to me. I turned to see if I could see the source of the light, when I realized that _I_ was the source of the light. I nearly fell backwards as I realized that my feet…my legs…my entire body was covered with a light that glowed like blue fire. I stood still, frozen by fear. "Wh—what am I?" I gasped, my voice nothing but a whisper.

"You haven't created a Second Life, yet," the Guardian murmured gently. "For now, this is your appearance."

"Well, thanks for giving me the heads up about this beforehand," I retorted, glaring up at the direction the voice came from. After a moment, I sighed, looking downward. It did no good to be mad at this—Guardian. It had shown that there was no reason not to trust it, and it wasn't like I could go anywhere—even if I did manage to get out of here, wherever "here" was, I had no memory of—anything from before. I wouldn't have the slightest idea where to go… "All right, then," I stated."What is a Second Life, and how do I make one?"

"If you have no more questions," the Guardian murmured, "You can step through this portal." As the Guardian spoke, white lights seemed to drip down from above and form a hollow arch shape. I squinted, momentarily blinded as the arch was suddenly filled with light.

I started to step forward, then paused, looking up. "Wait…I do have one more question."

"Yes?"

"Why am I here?" I asked. "I mean, what is all this, anyway?"

The Guardian chuckled softly. "Ahh…all do ask that question, however, yours is a special case, Taylor. Second Life was created for 'morphs, by 'morphs. You do understand what a 'morph is, yes?"

I nodded, processing this new information with surprise. 'Anthros exist?' I thought, wide-eyed.

"You see, Second Life is just that—a second chance at life for those that had a—less than ideal existence previously. However, until now, only 'morphs have entered into the realm. I honestly don't fully understand the reasons that you were brought here; however, the powers that choose such things don't always make their decisions known. When I have an answer, you will know it. Now, enter!"

I stepped through the portal, wondering whether or not I was blithely walking to my doom…but at this point, it was too late for regrets. I laughed. 'I don't even have memories to regret,' I thought. I passed through the light into a much smaller room, this time with visible and defined walls and a ceiling. 'Nice to have some sense of scale here,' I thought. The room itself was shaped like an octagon, and in the middle of the room, a large screen floated. I walked over to it, scanning its contents. There were several tabs that lined the top of the screen. I read them off, becoming more puzzled with each title. "Species, fur color, markings, marking color, hair color…? What gives?" I wondered. "I guess this is how you create a Second Life…" I decided after a moment. "Okay, then…here goes." Pushing the first tab, I scrolled down the choices until I found one I liked…I pushed the Lupine button, then frowned slightly as I felt slightly different. Oddly, there was a full-length mirror off to one side of the large screen. I walked over to stand in front of it, and received my second heart-stopping shock of the day. The reflection in the mirror was that of a 6 foot wolf! 'When he said 'morphs, he wasn't kidding!' I thought. After I had recovered my composure and looked at the reflection for a moment, I smirked slightly. 'Actually…this could be kinda cool.' I was still a little puzzled, wondering just how button-pushing changed one's physical form…but knowing that it somehow did, I understood what each button was for, and began to experiment with different combinations. I had decided to stick with the wolf for my species…for some reason, it had just appealed to me, but every other choice was up in the air.

After a few moments, I finally had decided on a 'look'. My fur was black, contrasted by snow-white markings and hair. My eyes were an emerald green. I chuckled slightly at the irony of it all. 'I never got to choose how I looked the first time around, so now I do…' I thought, chuckling softly. As for an outfit, I decided that simple bluejeans and a T-shirt would suit my needs, at least for now. "If they don't have clothing stores in—wherever I'm going—I guess I'll just have to find my way back here," I said to myself. Walking back over to the mirror, I grinned as I saw my new reflection. The wolf's face that was now mine flashed sharp canines back at me. 'Not too shabby,' I thought. Turning back to the screen, I frowned slightly as I saw a menu that I hadn't dropped down. My eyebrows shot up as I read the title. 'Wings? They can't mean…' My thumb pressed the first choice and I staggered back as I suddenly felt a large weight on my shoulders. Dashing back to the mirror, I gasped aloud as a pair of large white wings slowly extended behind me. I could feel new sets of muscles working in my shoulders as the wings unfurled. "This is…wow…" I breathed, unable to form a coherent thought to describe what I was looking at.

Suddenly, the screen beeped at me, drawing my thoughts back to the present. I turned, and saw that instead of the menus, there was a flashing I-beam cursor blinking on the screen. "Your name, please," the screen said to me in a feminine monotone.

"You talk, too?" I asked, slightly bemused, but there was no further response. "Guess it's just programmed," I murmured, walking back over to it. As I stepped in front of it, a holographic keyboard materialized on the screen below the cursor. 'What to put…?' I thought. After a moment, a name came to me from somewhere in the dark depths of my mind—my first memory, if one could call it that. "Lirren Shentai," I said aloud. I didn't know where it came from, or why that was the first thought to materialize out of my foggy consciousness, but I'd take memories where I could get them. Typing in the name, I hit the ENTER key, and the text box vanished, to be replaced instead by something that looked like a combination of the two previous screens—part text box and part menu. "This is where you will prepare aspects of your Second Life outside of your physical appearance," the screen said. "In the text box, you will write your description, or desc. This is what other players will know about you."

Players? Descs? Several unfamiliar terms were being tossed at me like I should know them. Sighing, I shrugged. The computer couldn't talk to me outside of its programmed responses, so I was going to get no help from it. I just hoped that someone else could help me when I was done with this. Stepping towards the screen, my hands danced across it, pulling around menus, sliders, and typing text as I configured my life from the ground up. One option caught my eye as I was scrolling around the screen. 'Psion…' I read. 'They can't actually mean…' I corrected myself. 'Considering the wings…not much would surprise me.' I smirked, remembering that I had always wanted to be a superhero as a kid—probably every kid did—but now I actually got the chance to have powers. I configured a few options and selected something called a "delta saber," pressing the ENTER key. When I did, I blinked slightly, feeling a slight weight in my pocket, and twin weights on my back. I assumed that the delta sabers were on my back…but I couldn't figure out what was in my pocket. I reached down, and pulled out a small emerald crystal, not much bigger than my palm. 'What is this?' I thought, tossing it lightly in the air. I squeezed it in my hand, wondering if it would break or crack, but instead of doing the expected—it vanished, seeming to melt into my hand. I gasped, watching as previously invisible tattoos etched themselves across my form, pulsing with green energy. I felt—stronger, faster… 'Was that crystal the source of my powers?' I wondered, soon coming to the realization that it was.

'Well, now what?' I thought, crossing my arms across my chest. 'It's not exactly like I can test out my powers here…I don't want to shoot the screen and mess it up for the next guy who comes along…Maybe if I just focus,' I thought. It wasn't much of an idea, but it was better than nothing. Closing my eyes, I searched my mind for—anything, really, that would give me a clue to what was going on and how I turned it off. Words flashed before my eyes—meta-state, _hádralex_…' I opened my eyes, murmuring, "_Lá'har nevis_," and watched as my tattoos faded to invisibility, and my Crystal rematerialized in my jeans pocket. I smirked slightly. "Pretty cool," I said, then realized that the screen was beeping at me, and probably had been for several minutes.

"Are you finished?" it asked.

I nodded, then belatedly realized the screen couldn't see me. "Yes," I said. "Please proceed."

As before in the Nexus, lights dripped down from above to form an arch, and then the arch was filled in, creating a portal to my next destination. I took a deep breath, wondering just what I would find on the other side of the doorway.


	2. Chapter II: A New World

The ground underneath my feet crunched and shifted as I stepped out of the portal into—well, it was more 'normal' than where I had just been…but then, my definition of 'normal' had been turned on its head recently. All I knew were that the trees looked pretty similar to what I thought trees should look like—the same with pretty much everything else. The sky was blue, the grass was green, the dirt was brown…if it wasn't for the fact that I was now covered in black fur and had pointed ears, a tail, and huge wings on my back, I'd say that I had just been through some sort of weird dream or something. "But…" I murmured to myself, "It's not. Whatever this is—wherever I am, this is real. And so I guess I'll just have to go from here." I chuckled softly. "Day one of my Second Life. Literally." I looked at my surroundings—I stood in the general center of a wooded area, with dirt and stone paths that wound their way through the trees and underbrush. A brook trickled somewhere through the woods…I couldn't see it, but could hear it. Birds chirped in the trees above… 'Birds?' I thought. 'Wait a minute. If this is a culture of anthros…why are they not?' I scratched my head, puzzling over that one for a minute. "This whole place is making less and less sense," I muttered aloud.

"Perhaps I can be of help."

I whirled around, all senses on alert. "Who said that?" I asked.

The voice chuckled softly…it had a similar quality to the Guardian's voice, but was about an octave higher. "I did. Look to your left, Lirren."

I complied, and my eyebrows shot up in surprise. The small dragon statue that had sat on the side of one of the paths was—alive? It seemed that way, for the thing was talking to me! 'Second Life has no shortage of surprises,' I thought.

"Greetings," said the dragon-statue, bending at the waist in a short bow. "I am called Drangonfriend."

I nodded slightly. "It's—uh…nice to meet you, Dragonfriend," I replied, slightly bemused at the whole situation. Then I frowned suddenly as I realized that this was yet another—person who knew my name before I had told it to them. I crossed my arms across my chest. "So…I can understand that the Guardian in the Nexus knew my name—he had something to do with me being brought here, most likely. But how do you know my name?"

Dragonfriend chuckled softly. "The Guardian you talked to in the Nexus was one of many…and is part of a much larger system designed to keep things in Second Life going as smoothly as possible. The Dragonfriends, the Guardians, the Wardens, they all have specific roles to play here."

I nodded in understanding. "I see…so you work for them, right?"

"In a sense…" Dragonfriend replied with some amusement. "Speaking of roles, since you are a new player to Second Life, I have a role to fill of my own to guide you through the first steps in this world."

I caught the use of the word 'player' in his—I assumed Dragonfriend was a he—sentence, and held up a hand, preventing him from going any further. "Okay, then. You can help me by answering this question: What's with all the terms around here? 'Players'? 'Descs'? Is this a game? Or some sort of virtual world?" I bent over and picked up a handful of dirt, letting it sift through my fingers. "This seems real to me."

Dragonfriend chuckled, ducking his head with embarrassment. "Oh dear. My apologies, Lirren. As you don't come from any of the Integrated 'morph worlds, you'd have no previous knowledge of Second Life. Several 'morph worlds, several decades ago, created this realm known as Second Life, and as such, the knowledge of the realm was common on their worlds. Terminology that is specific here was taught to the people on those planets so if they were chosen, they would already know what to do and how to do it. However, in your case, you wouldn't have had this previous education…so we'll have to start from the ground-up."

I shrugged a little. "Okay," I said simply. What else was I going to say? I was here, now…and Dragonfriend seemed helpful…it certainly wouldn't hurt to learn more about the place I was in.

Dragonfriend grinned amiably at me, saying, "You'll find that Second Life is much more unique than any place else you have been before, Lirren. As you discovered, the terminology here is similar to that of computers—'Players' 'Descs' 'Open-Ended'. The reason for this is because this realm works a bit like a virtual one…several unique technologies have been created in order to allow this merging of the virtual with the physical—I'm not even entirely sure how it all works," he said with a chuckle. "But what I can tell you is that the content here is nearly entirely player-created, however, due to the fact that this isn't actually a game, there is a bit of a twist." Dragonfriend pointed to my wrist. "You see the watch you are wearing?"

I looked down, my eyebrows shooting up in surprise—I hadn't noticed before that the watch was there…it certainly wasn't my type of watch, so I assumed that it had come when I had created my Second Life.

Dragonfriend affirmed this by saying: "The device, as you may have already guessed, is more than just a timekeeper. It's a miniature computer of sorts that you can use to keep track of your friends, relations, et cetera."

'So sorta like a PDA,' I thought.

"Its unique feature, however," Dragonfriend continued, "Is that of a direct uplink to the Second Life mainframe, which houses that player-created content that I mentioned earlier. Each world that isn't part of the main realm of Second Life is called a 'portal,' and is created using different programs that are in your watch. Once you do that, you upload it into the mainframe, where the portal is stored until it's ready to be placed. Portal entrances, as you might expect, are where you place portals. Simply find an unoccupied one of those and upload your portal into it. The matter-energy converters take care of the rest."

I nodded, slightly lost as I tried to follow the 'how-to' of creating entire worlds, seemingly at the push of a button. "So…" I said, "How can I tell if a portal entrance is occupied or not?"

Dragonfriend held out his hand, and a holographic image appeared, formed by an emitter in the palm of his hand. It was then that I realized the dragon statue was a machine! A robot, the likes of which I had never seen…more advanced than anything I thought possible. The image was that of an intricately designed sphere, crisscrossed with beautiful designs and patterns. As I watched, the sphere flattened into a circle, retaining its designs, and settled on the ground, with the name of a portal hovering above it. "The first image was that of an unoccupied portal," Dragonfriend explained. "The second was an occupied one. The occupied portal entrance then will function as a 'teleporter' into the portal itself."

I nodded. "Thank you very much for everything you've explained," I said. "You've been very helpful."

Dragonfriend grinned. "Oh! Wait…there is one more thing. There is a unique way to communicate with the other inhabitants of Second Life," he said, "It's called 'Whispering'. You can use it in lieu of a standard whisper if you want to have added privacy, for when you activate the Whisper mode of your watch, it erects a special soundproof barrier around you and the Whisper recipient. It can also be used as a long-distance communicator of sorts…you can contact a player, so long as you know their name, even if they're on the other side of the world."

I nodded, raising my eyebrows slightly. "Wow…sounds like it could be helpful. Thank you again for your help, Dragonfriend," I said with a smile. Waving, I turned on my heel and walked off down the path. A short distance away, I sat on an unoccupied bench and began to explore the various functions of my watch. I soon discovered that it was a watch, PDA, GPS, and many more functions. Flipping back to the GPS, my eyes widened as I realized the scope of Second Life. There were hundreds of places here… Moonlit Shore, South Sea Isle, Diamond City, The Alley… For some illogical reason, I just didn't expect a whole planet to explore. I tapped my temple, chuckling slightly as my brain was still slightly fuzzy from this whole experience. 'I wonder how long it'll take before I'm really thinking clearly…' I shrugged, pushing myself up. 'Just sitting around and waiting won't do me any good, though,' I thought. 'Maybe I'll find someone else like me with no memories…' I already knew I wouldn't find any other humans here…I was the first. And only, according to the Guardian I had talked to. 'Heh…it's worth a shot,' I thought. But where to go? This place, although it was very beautiful and peaceful, wasn't exactly populous. However, after glancing at my GPS again and doing some quick calculations, I realized it'd take days of walking just to get anywhere. 'I wonder if there's a faster way…' I turned back to DragonFriend, but he was helping another 'morph. "All right, then," I murmured. "I'm on my own." I sat back down on my bench, examining my watch. It was only a hunch…but considering all that this thing was able to do, I figured it might be able to help me get somewhere. I pushed the location on the map that said "South Sea Isle," and suddenly, a white light engulfed me that was similar to the one that had brought me here. I started to cry out in surprise, but it was cut off as I was completely surrounded by the glow.

The light slowly faded, and I blinked my eyes a few times to regain my vision. Looking around, I saw that I was on something similar to a portal entrance, except that it was raised off the ground slightly, and was covered by a high arch, ornately decorated. Stairs on the four sides led down to the ground.

"Welcome to the Island in the South Sea," said a feminine voice from somewhere nearby. I looked down suddenly, realizing that my watch was the source of the voice. "This area is particularly rich in portal energy, and as such, portal entrances abound. Also, due to the region's mild weather, South Sea Isle is a popular tourist destination, its population often rivaling that of Diamond City."

I chuckled softly when my watch had finished explaining things to me. "You sound like a tour guide," I murmured as I stepped off of the platform. As I looked around, I realized that my watch's description of the population here had been no exaggeration—everywhere I looked I saw—what did they want to be called? It wasn't like they weren't people…and yet, they quite obviously weren't human, so… I shrugged. I figured that I'd learn soon enough—I just hoped I didn't learn by way of misspeaking in front of a 'morph and getting smacked.

As I looked around, I saw a few things that Dragonfriend had explained to me before—portal entrances were strewn all over the ground, and I even saw a few Whisper shields up. 'This place looks interesting,' I thought, 'But there's too many people here. I want to get some practice in with this thing—' I pulled the crystal out of my pocket and held it up, looking at it. '—And I don't want to accidentally blast somebody.'

I pulled up the GPS on my watch again, looking through the different destinations that it could take me. "Aha…the Ranier Peaks…that sounds good. Even if it is a big tourist destination, I'm sure there will be wooded spots in places that won't have people nearby that I can practice in…" I punched the destination on the map and closed my eyes as the white light of teleportation engulfed me again.


	3. Chapter III: The Warrior

As the light faded, I found myself standing in front of a fairly large building, behind which a mountain range—the Rainier Peaks, stretched skyward. As I looked around, I saw beautiful plants everywhere—flowers of every conceivable color, and trees that seemed nearly as tall as the mountains nearby. 'The denizens of Second Life have taken better care of the environment here than we did back on Earth,' I thought. Another memory, and I cringed at that particular one. Even with the technological advances that people had been making, we still were no closer to finding a solution to fixing our ruined planet. I shook my head. 'I can't get down about this,' I thought. 'I'm here, now, and as far as I can see, this is my home.' I sat down on a nearby bench and took in the scenery, sighing softly. 'Not that this is a bad place,' I thought with a soft chuckle.

"I've seen that look before…" said a voice to my right. I turned, and saw an orange-furred fox standing over me, a slight smirk on his face. "Hey there," he grinned when I looked at him. "Name's Hollen."

"Mine's Lirren," I replied, slightly bemused.

"You're new here, eh?" he asked, sitting down next to me. I nodded. "Worried about the family you left behind?"

"Well, that's part of it," I said. "Problem is, I can't remember if I left any family behind."  
"Well that's nothing to—" he trailed off, frowning slightly. "Wait a minute. What'd you say?"

I chuckled softly. "I said I can't remember if I left any family behind. I actually can't remember anything before I came here," I told him. "Why do you ask?" I raised one eyebrow. "Isn't that the case with everybody here?"

Hollen shook his head. "No. Not at all. People usually remember their First Lives with clarity…which is part of the reason that most enjoy it so much here—they don't want to go back to their shattered existence before. I wonder if something happened during your transfer that fried your head…"

"That's a reassuring thought," I retorted, smirking slightly. "It's one thing to be an amnesiac, but I'd like to have all of my functions intact, thank you."

Hollen chuckled softly, shrugging slightly. "I'm assuming you do, since you've been able to keep up a conversation with me. If something happened that fried your memory—well, maybe it was for a reason. Maybe something happened before that the Guardians don't want you to remember. Maybe it was too traumatic. I dunno, I'm just thinkin' here," he said.

I scratched my head, thinking for a moment. "Well, it seems as good an explanation as any," I said finally. "I just keep thinkin' about everything, you know? Even about things in my Second Life."

Hollen seemed to be about to reply, when suddenly, his watch beeped, cutting him off. He looked down at it, then gasped, slapping a hand against his forehead. "Damn. Sorry, gotta go, but listen. Don't worry about anything. We're all here for a reason…you have one, too, you just haven't figured it out yet!" He waved, then vanished in a flash of white light.

I leaned back on my hands, chuckling softly over the rather odd encounter. 'Does everyone just act like they've known you forever around here?' I wondered. 'Or was he just really friendly?' I shrugged. 'He had good advice, though.' I pushed myself up, smiling. 'He was right. I shouldn't worry. This is a time in my life where I really do have nothing to lose. I'm a blank slate, and can totally remake myself however I want. I _don't_ have anything to worry about!' I grinned broadly, laughing. This was suddenly a very good day.

I walked into the nature center, deciding to take a walk through the hiking trails, see what other unique foliage adorned the area. Inside, the place was a mini-museum of sorts, complete with exhibits, facts about the area, and samples of nearly every plant and flower I had seen outside before, and some that I hadn't.

"_Help!_"

I whirled around as I suddenly heard someone scream behind me. A terrified feline 'morph trembled in the grip of a burly grey-furred wolf. The wolf's eyes practically glowed with lust as he held a knife to the young girl's throat. "All right!" the wolf growled. "Nobody moves, or this pretty one will drip all over these displays here…" He bent down, his hot breath on the girl's flattened ears. "What's your name, little one?"

"It's Liré…" the girl stammered, trying to hold back tears that were threatening to spill down her cheeks. "Oh, please don't hurt me, Kane!" she cried, starting to sob.

"Oh, don't worry, Liré," Kane purred, looking down at her. "All I want is to give you the best time you've ever had…" His lips curved in a sickening smirk as he chuckled softly.

Everything had happened so fast that I hadn't been able to react—frozen in place like everyone else. But as I quickly glanced around the mini-museum, I noticed nobody was making a move towards this guy, Kane; as a matter of fact, what was more noticeable was the quite obvious lack of reaction to the situation…it seemed like the majority of the 'morphs there were actually trying to ignore the wolf and the girl. 'Nobody's gonna help her?' I thought, a snarl beginning to form on my lips. 'What the hell?'

"Something bothering you, wolfy?" I turned back to face Kane, who had, apparently, noticed my expression of distaste.

I didn't even think—just acted on instinct. Yanking my crystal out of my pocket, I squeezed it in my hand, activating and channeling my psionic power. The green tattoos etched themselves across my form, and I could feel the crystal's energy—my energy. With a yell, I leapt for Kane, charging up an energy blast and shoving it into his face. Kane roared with pain, staggering back and releasing Liré, who promptly dashed out of sight.

I crouched in front of the towering wolf, ears flat against my skull.

"You must be new here, wolfy," Kane snarled, baring his fangs at me. "Or nuts. Nobody with any sense messes with me!" He threw his arms down to his sides, and what looked something like an electric current crackled across his form. "I'm gonna enjoy disintegrating you!" He leapt for me, claws outstretched and pulsing with energy.

I channeled energy into my hands, blocking and countering Kane's strike. He twisted away, then whirled, firing a crackling energy ball. I didn't quite get out of the way fast enough, and was hit in the face. I cried out, stumbling back with a hand on my cheek.

"Aww, you okay there, wolfie? I hope that hurt!" Kane guffawed. "See, this is why you don't mess with me. All right, I want everyone to pay attention! This is what happens when some dumbass thinks he's some big hero. He gets what's comin' to him. Anybody else think they want to be a hero?"

I could barely even think straight—god my face hurt. 'Jesus…why am I even doing this?' I wondered. 'This is just gonna get me killed…' But as I looked up, I noticed Liré, trembling under a display table. She and I locked gazes for a moment, and in that instant, I knew what I was doing and why I was doing it. I was doing it for her. I straightened, turning around and pulling my twin delta sabers from their sheaths. "I'm not quite done yet, Kane," I said, activating the energy blades.

Kane turned, a sneer on his face. "Ahh…back for more, I see," he chuckled. "You've got spirit, I'll give you that. Too bad we won't get to see any more of that after today!" He clenched his fists, and long, serrated blades extended from his forearms, almost like extra-long claws. With a snarl, he swung his blades down in a wide arc, bringing them crashing down on my delta sabers. Energy met metal with a crash, and I groaned as I strained under Kane's immense physical strength.

I pushed Kane off of me, then swung my blades, slicing his arm deeply. Kane growled and fell to one knee, a hand going to the gash on his arm. I slipped a blade under his neck, the green energy hissing menacingly. "Since you're doing most of the talking," I smirked, "Is there anything else you have to say?"

"Yeah…" Kane groaned, "You'd better watch your back from now on, wolf. I've got your number…" And suddenly, he vanished in a flash of blue light—different from the teleporting that the watches used. I blinked, wondering if this was some sort of trick; but he never rematerialized. I deactivated my delta sabers, sheathing them and dropping out of my psionically enhanced state—meta-state. I heaved a mighty sigh—I was so exhausted. As I was about to leave, however, I suddenly remembered the girl that was the reason for this whole ordeal. I gasped softly, whirling around. Liré was just where she had ran to—under one of the display tables, and she was trembling violently, trying not to cry. I squatted next to her, smiling gently. "Hey…shh, it's okay," I murmured. "It's all over now…Kane's gone."

Liré blinked, seeming unsure if she was going to trust what I said. "G—gone?" she repeated.

I nodded. "I don't think he'll be coming back here…"

Liré peeked out of her hiding spot, looking around for a few moments before deciding that Kane was indeed gone. She stepped out from under the display table, taking my offered hand to help her to her feet. "Th—thank you for helping me," she said softly. "If you hadn't been here—" she trailed off, shuddering briefly at the thought.

"But I was," I replied, but frowned slightly at what had happened. 'Why had no one else helped her? I couldn't have been the only psion…or fighter…or something. Hell, why didn't anybody call the police, or Guardians, or whatever there is around here?'

"Thank you, again," she said, a slight smile coming to her face. "I'll remember you for this—?" she trailed off slightly, a nonverbal cue for my name.

"Lirren," I said. "Lirren Shentai, at your service."

"Lirren," she repeated, nodding slightly, then keyed in a command on her watch, and vanished in a flash of light. I turned around, noticing that the 'morphs that had been in the museum now had assembled into a sort of group around me, and were all watching me with what looked like—awe, I thought.

Chuckling nervously, I said, "Why all the stares, guys? Don't tell me none of you have ever seen a psion before…"

One member of the group, a tall brown stallion, spoke up. "Well, we have…but no one's ever taken on Kane before—at least, no one has and lived…"

I blinked, my eyebrows shooting skyward. This guy Kane must be some really serious business—and I must have gotten really lucky to get outta that alive, if the stallion's story was accurate.

Another voice from the crowd: "Hey, why don't you take him on, Lirren?"

For the second time in five minutes I was taken by surprise. Now, I had assumed that Dragonfriend, back after I had left the Nexus, had worked for the Guardians, and I had later been proven correct…but I didn't think that anyone here was an agent of the Guardians, or any of the other protectors of this realm…so I was confused how they could know my name. I voiced my query, and the stallion who had spoke before replied, "When a person addresses you, the addressee's name is shown next to their photo on your watch…it's common knowledge."

"Oh!" I nodded with sudden understanding, chuckling softly. I brushed my hand through my hair. "Sorry, I didn't know…Dragonfriend didn't tell me that…"

The stallion tilted his head, blinking with confusion. "Wait a minute. You talked with Dragonfriend recently? How long have you been here?"

"It's my first day," I replied, which instantly sent a stir through the crowd of 'morphs.

"His first day?"

"He just got here and he took down Kane? Who is this guy?"

"Damn, I wish I could have known him in my first life!"

"You've got that right!"

A grey-furred fox stepped out from the crowd, an amicable smile on his face. "So, where're you from, friend?"

"You mean my first life?" I asked, receiving a nod from the fox. "I'm from Earth," I replied, which drew an instantaneous hush from the crowd—even the small hum of machinery of the building itself seemed muted. After shifting uneasily back and forth from one foot to the other, I chuckled nervously. "Why the flip-flop?" I asked. "First you welcomed me as a hero—now some of you are looking at me as if I was a traitor…"

No one responded for a long moment—some refusing to even meet my gaze, but then a caustic voice came from the crowd; "No one has been here from Earth before, human!" it spat, "With good reason…we all know what you've done to your planet."

"Hey now…that's not entirely fair," I murmured in reply. "Not everyone on Earth thinks that way, and now, many of us are trying to reverse the damage…trying to save what we have left." Honestly, I didn't know how many people thought one way or the other—there had always been some who were uber-environmentalist, and there were always some who wanted to simply ignore what changes were taking place. But I didn't need my reputation here and now tarnished by the accusations of crimes committed by people who were, in all likelihood, light-years away.

However, the heckler seemed to be unsatisfied with this statement, actually becoming more irate and caustic in their speech. "Oh, really? Now, while I think that some furres may be manipulated by your smooth words and placating speech, the majority want you and those like you out on your ear! My First Life was destroyed—I won't have you ruining the Second!"

"Hey, now, wait a minute!" A voice from the crowd rose to my defense. "He saved that girl, and he knocked Kane for a loop! Come on, no one else would have done that for us! Certainly not if he's as corrupt as you claim he is!"

"Yeah!"

"That's right!"

"Tell that loser to shut up!"

The voices increased in number and in volume until the entire room was filled with the sounds of arguing 'morphs—the heckler had been right, not everyone believed that I wasn't here just to stir up some trouble—apparently, humans didn't have a good reputation in the eyes of the 'morph—but the majority of the crowd supported me.

The noise soon rose to a fevered pitch—becoming so loud that I couldn't even think straight. I became worried that another fight might break out with tensions as high as this. "_HEY!_" I roared at the top of my lungs. That had the desired effect—the room quickly quieted and I became the center of the crowd's attention. "My apologies," I said when my ears had stopped ringing. "Apparently this topic is a rather sensitive one here…and I don't wish to add any fuel to this fire," I stated. "I appreciate all the help, but I think it would be best if I addressed this particular 'morph's grievances personally." I took a deep breath, hoping that that statement would be firm enough, yet diplomatic. If these people really had had bad relationships with my race, I didn't want to start off my new life here on a very wrong foot…

The crowd parted, revealing the instigator of this argument: A smugly smirking dragoness, with shimmering silver scales, golden eyes, bright blue hair and red markings. I sighed softly and rolled my eyes skyward, wondering about the irony of this situation. She was far from the snide, cynical troublemaker I expected. 'Now this is interesting,' I thought. I crossed my arms across my chest, raising an eyebrow slightly. "Well here I am," I said. "Is there anything else you want to say to me?"

"Yeah, actually there is," the girl fired back. "You humans are a pathetic excuse for a sentient species! You constantly pollute your planet, then fight each other for a few _gredan_ of that same ruined land!"

I chuckled softly; what the dragoness had said was ridiculous—Humans as a species hadn't actually fought each other since WWIII…that was nearly two centuries ago. "I should ask if you got your information from whatever you call a tabloid on your home planet—you do know the last time we fought each other was in 2121, right? Back in World War Three? If you're gonna stir up trouble, at least try to do it with something current." It wasn't the most diplomatic of things I could have said, I realized that later—and the dragoness would have agreed with my assessment had she heard it: she snarled softly, with thin wisps of smoke twirling from her nostrils. 'Oops, I forgot about that…' I thought. 'I'd prefer not to get roasted today…' I opened my mouth to backpedal a little bit, but never got the chance.

"You—shut up!" The dragoness charged up an energy blast at her hip and fired it at me. I was caught off guard, and was sent tumbling to the floor. I rolled into a crouching position, groaning softly and rubbing my jaw. 'Ouch…I didn't think she'd get that mad that quick.' I climbed back to my feet, activating my delta sabers. I didn't actually want to fight the girl—I just wanted to tire her out and get her to leave me alone. My blades flashed as I blocked her attacks.

"Can you do more than just stand there and twirl your swords, human?" the dragoness sneered.

"You're not too exciting yourself," I retorted. "At least Kane was something of a challenge compared to you." However, as I happened to catch a glance at my watch, I did a double-take. The girl's desc was outlined on the screen, along with descriptions of her powers, some of which caused me to pale slightly. 'If she knows how to use all of those…I'm in deep.'

"All right, then, Earther, have it your way." Flicking her fingers, the dragoness created energy _shuriken_, and tossed them into the crowd of 'morphs. I gasped and leapt into the air, my blades a blur as I deflected the girl's attacks. 'What the hell does she think she's doing?' I thought. 'Non-psions can't even withstand the weakest of attacks!' I landed in a crouch, glaring at the girl wrathfully. "Leave them out of this!" I growled, my eyes narrowing. "This isn't their fight!"

"No, it's ours, so why don't you fight me?" she smirked, crossing her arms.

"Oh, I will." Sheathing my delta sabers, I leapt for the girl, hands glowing with energy. She tried to keep up, but didn't have enough control over her powers. Her defensive shield buckled, and I caught her across the face with an open-handed slash. She cried out and fell to the ground, one hand clutching her cheek. I was instantly on top of her, my forearm across her neck, while my other hand cradled an energy ball.

"Pl-please don't kill me!" she whimpered, her eyes squeezed shut.

I snarled. "Pathetic. Simply pathetic. You're a psion, one of the most powerful I've yet seen, yet you're also the most cowardly. You have no idea the kind of power you wield, do you? You do know that you would have killed those civilians with your attack, right?"

The dragoness looked away. "Just…just take me to detention, I don't care now…it doesn't matter. You've won; just like you did before."

I frowned slightly, pulling back a bit. "Whoa, whoa. 'Like I did before'? What's that mean?"

The girl looked back up at me, tears in her eyes. "Abou-about a decade ago…I was back in my First Life…on a planet called Úiréa—Peace in your language. We were a fairly quiet people; keeping to ourselves…until your people came. Things were pretty uneventful at first; our two peoples interacted well. Then they started to expand—exponentially. We warned them to slow down their alarming rate of expansion…they were consuming our planets resources faster than they could be replenished. But they wouldn't listen. We gave them several more warnings, saying that we would use force to protect what was left, if necessary. We were eventually forced to go to war. We held out for a while, but then their superior tech won out. Our people were all captured, and now my people are either here, or serving the humans as slaves…"

I gasped, eyes going wide. I scrambled off of the girl, holding out a hand to help her to her feet. She warily grabbed it, and I pulled her upright. "Th—that's terrible…" I finally managed to murmur. "Look…I don't remember too much about my First Life," I said, sighing softly. "But I can say that the friends I do remember, never would have done anything like what you're saying. Not everyone agreed with the slash-and-burn policy that some of my people had…" I looked down. "I'm so sorry for what happened to your people and your planet," I said finally. Looking back up at the dragoness, I said, "Look. Considering everything, I, uh—I won't report you. Just—don't go off on someone without hearing the full story first…"

The dragoness managed a ghost of a smile as she looked back at me. "Heh, all right…I'll remember that," she said, then walked away, the crowd obediently parting for her as she made her way out the door.

As I watched her leave, I sighed and rubbed my cheek. 'This has been one hell of a first day,' I thought. 'How did I manage to get myself into the middle of this? I'm just another guy…' I was pulled out of my thoughts when I heard a voice call my name. I turned, and saw a young feline girl looking up at me. "Hmm?" I asked.

"I just wanted to thank you again for stopping Kane," she said. "It's nice to know that there are still heroes in this realm who will stand up for what's right."

I smiled back at the girl. "I do what I can."

Seeming satisfied by that answer, the girl waved and walked off. The crowd who had watched the earlier performance had dispersed, some back to the museum, others leaving entirely. I nodded to myself. 'Okay—so that's taken care of. I guess I sorta got a trial by fire with that fight with Kane,' I thought. Shrugging to myself, I walked outside, still half-wondering if I should do some more training to hone my skills further—I had a hunch that my first battle against Kane was a lucky victory, and that he wouldn't so easily be defeated next time. Walking along the trails, I soon found a secluded spot off the main paths, and falling into a fighting stance, I began to explore my powers.


End file.
